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Did You Know...

... that Dubai Asaar's 8-way lineup had the upper mid-eastern hand at the World Air Games?

Dubai Asaar 8-way lineup at the Clash of Champions
posted Jan 7th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News reported on December 27th that two teams completed 40 competition rounds within the two weeks of the Clash of Champions 2015 and the World Air Games 2015: Black Cat and Dubai Asaar's Black 4-way team.

Dubai's delegation competed on indoor and outdoor home turf and consisted of three 4-way Open Class teams (Asaar Black - Gold - Red), the Asaar Ladies in 4-way Women, 4-way VFS team Amudy, the Asaar 8-way lineup and several international pickup teams at the Clash of Champions, who signed up for the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai Asaar Black, UAE's national 4-way team, still with player coach Craig Girard in the lineup, had the busiest agenda representing the United Arab Emirates at both events in 4-way and in 8-way.

Clash of Champions 2015
Rd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Rd 7Rd 8Rd 9Rd 10TotalAvg
Rank8-way AAA ClassL,F,C,75,6,192,9,3G,A,12,10B,11,2216,1,21K,M,18,PE,O,J,8Q,17,15N,H,4,DTotalAvg
1Golden KnightsUS3426303037343525314232432.4
2France WeembiFR2922252630302827283427927.9
3TanayRU2922202231302723253826726.7
4Thund8rbirdsBE2423222221282823243525025.0
5Qatar FalconsQA2419202125242019232622122.1
6Dubai AsaarAE2119191920232219212620920.9
7Monaco VitalseaMC713161413111718172214814.8
Clash of Champions
12345678910TotalAvg
RankAAA ClassJ,13,8K,20,59,21,19C,3,67,O,15A,18,12,H,P,D16,L,11E,N,10,B12,Q,F,22TotalAvg
12Dubai Asaar Black2122212224242923232323223.2
18Dubai Asaar Gold1917211919172117181618418.4
21Dubai Asaar Red14141714161518144012612.6
Dubai Asaar Black at the Clash of Champions
Dubai Asaar Gold was not far behind though. The second half of Dubai's 8-way team missed only the 4-way competition at the World Air Games, as only one national team was invited by FAI/IPC.

The indoor 4-way competition of the Clash of Champions was the most challenging event for Asaar Black, as the strongest 4-way field in the history of the sport made it very difficult for all teams just to make it to the Top 10 on the leaderboard.

Asaar Black finished with the highest average (23.2) that any team from Dubai has ever posted, and it was just enough for the 12th place at Inflight Dubai. It was a similar situation at the World Air Games where Asaar Black finished with a new outdoor record average (19.4) as well. A 17.1 average was enough for Asaar Black at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 to make it to the finals. The 19.4 average at the World Air Games was actually the 7th place behind France, despite the new team record average.

World Air Games 2015
Rd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Rd 7Rd 8Rd 9Rd 10TotalAvg
Rank8-way Open20,13,4F,L,B,G,P22,D,714,O,59,C,J,H19,K,3Q,17,E,A15,21,1812,16,18,11,2TotalAvg
1Golden KnightsUS2233191918222122291722222.2
2TanayRU1726171419211717241318518.5
3France WeembiFR1623131516201717221317217.2
4Dubai AsaarAE1417131415161616151114714.7
5Qatar FalconsQA1316141013161514161113813.8
Dubai Asaar 8-way lineup at the Mondial Dubai 2012
The situation in 8-way was just as interesting from the Dubai perspective. Asaar's 8-way lineup was as new as the one of the regional rival, the Qatar Falcons.

Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez started building an 8-way lineup next to the 4-way teams as soon as they had moved to Dubai. First impressive result was a place in the finals at the Mondial Dubai 2012 with an 11.1 average.

A setback followed at the FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving 2014 where Dubai's 8-way team did not even make the semifinals after several personnel changes. However, Craig Girard and Eliana Rodriguez, both former 8-way world champions, did not give up on their Asaar 8-way vision and began to re-build the team.

World Air Games 2015
Rd. 1Rd. 2Rd. 3Rd. 4Rd. 5Rd. 6Rd. 7Rd. 8Rd. 9Rd. 10T.Avg
R.4-way OpenB,C,17,2N,19,413,14,F6,E,O,L7,1,AD,18,P,22M,H,5,1516,9,1221,K,G,Q11,20,3T.Avg
1NMP PCH HayabusaBE2926233628233124272226926.9
2Arizona AirspeedUS2927223628192925302026526.5
3Black CatRU2323213021212623271923423.4
4Qatar TigersQA2221172823192719211721421.4
5EvolutionCA2122172820152420221620520.5
6FLY-INFR242018292017191922-18820.9
7Dubai Asaar BlackAE2120172020172319201719419.4
8Vision 99UK1812152318151817--13617.0
9Rotor OutAU1716142217152113--13516.9
10Ex3moIT1616122116171415--12715.9
11AtomiX YUUDE1412142016131714--12015.0
Dubai Asaar 8-way lineup at the World Meet Prostejov 2014
One year later, Craig Girard is guiding the new 8-way lineup as the player coach with great success. Dubai Asaar's 8-way lineup finished with a 20.9 average at the Clash of Champions, and it became even better at the World Air Games.

The new Qatar Falcons, with coach Gary Smith, had outscored Dubai Asaar (22.1 - 20.9) at the indoor competition. Craig Girard's Asaar Black/Red combination then finished with a 14.7 average at the World Air Games, nine points ahead (14.7 - 13.8) ahead of the Falcons.

Both teams are now preparing for the Mondial 2016 where they will have a very realistic chance to make it to the finals once again. The internal mid-eastern question is who will have the upper 8-way hand at Skydive Chicago in September...

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